GRIS

The character we play with is Gris, a young girl that looses her voice after the death of her mother, that death is portrayed by the statue that was holding her breaking into pieces which lead to Gris falling into the unknown and the lack of voice is a metaphor for loosing sense of self after the death of someone.

She travels through mystirious lands beginning to understand her emotions better, every chapter brings a new challenge to overcome gradually increasing in difficulty, similar to what processing grief feels like. Each chapter has a leading emotion and, although at first Gris battles the emotions, she later realizes that they serve a necessary role in her healing process.

The game follows the five stages of grief by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross that developed a model to describe how people with terminal illness faced their own death, but it was soon adapted as a way of thinking about grief in general.

Denial

Feeling numb is common in the early days after a loss. Some people at first carry on as if nothing has happened. Even if we know with our heads that someone has died it can be hard to believe that someone important is not coming back.

The land of denial is the first area in the game, it is where Gris lands after her fall and she is so crushed to the point she can barely move. The main colors during this stage are black, gray and white to portray how Gris sees the world as meaningless and the emotionless she feels, the only thing that exists is nothingness.

The buildings in the background are crumbling and on the verge of collapse but still intact. The fact that this level is very quiet compared to the rest and the few noises presents are muffled as if she is paralyzed and numb. As Gris goes through denial the surrounding areas start to look obliterated, she’s breaking down her barrier so to speak, the rune is undeniable as reality starts to hit her hard and she cries

Anger

Death can seem cruel and unfair, especially when someone has died before their time. It’s also common to feel angry towards the person who has died, or angry at ourselves for things we did or didn’t do before their death. After Gris’ breakdown she transitions to the next phase, in the anger section things become more complex to navigate because she starts to process her feelings.

Anger is an unstable stage where a person can feel calm in one moment and furious in the next, the game depicts that instability by the strong winds that appear every once in a while and as the winds come, the instrumental gets more intense. The land of Anger has a monochromatic red environment, that combined with a stellar soundtrack and apocalyptic background depict anger perfectly.

Anger makes as tense up and since it can be harmful to both the person felling it and the people around, we may want to isolate ourselves as a coping mechanism, that’s why Gris’ new ability to transform into a block with limited movement that’s able to break through stone and resist violent winds makes so much sense, she is just trying to protect herself from her own rage until she learns how to process it.

Bargaining

When in pain, it’s sometimes hard to accept that there’s nothing we can do to change things. Bargaining is when we start to make deals with ourselves or a higher being. It’s also common to ask a lot of ‘what if’ questions, wishing we could go back and change everything in the hope things could have turned out differently.

The bargaining stage feels magical, it’s bright and vibrant with wildlife all around that makes us feel happy, light and peaceful, this phase is the tranquility after the storm as well as before it which can sound out of place since this particular stage of grief sounds so desperate.

But the game chooses to portray bargaining in a more subtle way, by adding a little stone creature. Gris has to help the creature in order to get what she wants and they eventually become friends. So instead of running away from problems or getting furious, Gris is now reaching for help. Is during this time that Gris develops the ability to interact with “birds” that launch her upwards, an ability that can be interpreted as her loved ones helping her. Eventually they part ways signaling the end of bargaining

Depression

Sadness and longing are what we think of most often when we think about grief. This pain can be very intense and life can feel like it no longer holds any meaning.

This area is very angsty, one of the stand outs is the world design, there’s rain everywhere as a way of showing Gris’ pain in her heart coming to physical form. There is so many anguish that her tears form lakes. As she travels through the depths of her pain things become dark and icy, frozen just so our hearts can feel after a loss, the direction of the progress in this phase is downwards.

In this scenario the water is very important since during this stage people feel as if they were drowning and everything is too much, another important thing about water is that it can take on different forms just like our sadness. The icy and the deep blues combined with a depressing harmony create a very adequate mood.

This stage is particularly difficult once Gris is constantly being chased by a giant black monster, that monster had appeared during the bargaining stage but it wasn’t harmful, when Gris gets to a higher point the monster comes back but now we can see that the black figure is a copy of Gris and it swallows her, making Gris drown into her own darkness.

Acceptance

Grief comes in waves and it can feel like nothing will ever be right again. But gradually most people find that the pain eases, and it is possible to accept what has happened. We may never ‘get over’ the death of someone precious, but we can learn to live again, while keeping the memories of those we have lost close to us.

After all of the struggle, Gris finds her strength and is able to gain her voice back. Music is everything in the acceptance area of the game, in the background is playing a hauntingly futuristic song that sounds like an expansion of perspective. The stars and moon in the background are ever reaching, because, now that her feelings are intact, she feels as though the universe is the limit.

Once she learns how to use her voice the entire map springs to life. Yellow is a current color in this stage and it is an excellent color to portray acceptance because it gives of warmth and vibrancy missing from the other sections of the game. The important of depression doesn't mean the start of acceptance necessarily.

Besides what might be the thought, this section still has challenges and puzzles and is the longest phase, that's to transmit the message that because we are no longer sad doesn't mean we accept that the person is gone forever and that takes a long time.

The end of this stage as well as the end of the game is extremely beautiful, Gris' feelings are almost resolved until she has a relapse and gets consumed by darkness, but the new way she feels about the death of her mother gives her the strength to preserve. Gris let's her mom go by appreciating the new relationship she has with her